High authority deformable mirrors, that is, deformable mirrors with high stroke and high frequency operate well into the Greenwood frequency range of 250 Hz at strokes of 10 micron. However, when operating in high scintillation conditions the adjustment or actuation of the surface normal actuators is required into much higher frequency. The actuators are formed from a plurality of segments made, for example, from electrodisplacive material and separated from each other by electrodes. This increase in frequency results in much higher current, i, in accordance with the fundamental condition that
  i  =      c    ⁢                  ⅆ        v                    ⅆ        t            where c is the capacitance of the actuator, v the voltage applied to it and dt represents the decreasing time with increased frequency. This higher current has resulted in actuator burnout due to hot spots, especially where the lead wires connect to the conductive epoxy film which acts as the connector to each of the electrodes. Increasing the conductivity of the epoxy is not a solution because there is a limit to the amount and particle size of the conductive material, e.g. silver that can be added to the epoxy. Other forms of connection such as platinum ink or solder ribbons, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,119, suffer similar problems and increasing their thickness would significantly increase the space and reduce the packing density obtainable with the actuator.